Facebook Acquires Instagram; IT Job Growth Hits a High [Roundup]

Facebook Acquires Instagram: Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram is more than a $1 billion deal that will make CEO Kevin Systrom some $400 million. It’s Facebook’s biggest acquisition to date and is sure to set off another round of hand-wringing over startup valuations. Given that it comes as Facebook runs up to its IPO, getting the deal done was obviously a priority for Mark Zuckerberg. By bringing Instagram into the fold, Facebook gets the excitement and momentum the product generates, along with its photo-sharing and messaging capabilities. Dice

IT Job Growth Reaches New High: The number of Americans working in IT reached an all-time high in March, according to TechServe Alliance. The number of IT jobs grew by 15,000, or 0.4 percent, from February to nearly 4.15 million. The first quarter of 2012 marked more than two years of consecutive quarterly growth in IT employment, which grew at almost twice the rate of the overall job market in March. The biggest demand: management and technical consulting services. Washington Business Journal

Yahoo Will Focus on Media, Communications and Commerce: Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson will remake the struggling company by organizing it into three units. The most urgent goal: to be must faster in responding to an online environment that is changing rapidly. “This is among the most important changes we’re making: We must bring some of our best product designers and engineers much, much closer to consumer needs and demands. Many of our top engineers will continue building on our foundation platforms and technology to continue to drive speed and scale. But to ensure we really know and can serve our customers, we’ll also deploy top design and engineering talent into our Consumer business units, directly supporting our users’ favorite Yahoo! products to ensure we move much faster and meet customer needs with every product we deliver,” Thompson said. Dice

Detroit Wants Yahoo Refugees: A group of Detroit tech businesses — including Quicken Loans, Detroit Venture Partners, Rockbridge Growth Equity and Fathead.com — are among the companies interested in hiring hundreds of technology and marketing professionals formerly employed by Yahoo. (Or anyone else looking for a career change, for that matter.) How interested? They’ve created the website ValleytoDetroit to promote their campaign. Companies will immediately begin interviews and have committed to fly in final candidates to introduce them to the wide-range of established and startup companies that have sprung up in the city’s emerging tech corridor. Dice

IT Pros: Overworked and Underpaid? IT professionals are working harder than ever, and unimpressive salary increases aren’t making up for the added stress. Computerworld polled 4,337 IT pros and found average salaries increased 2.1 percent in 2011, while average total compensation rose by 1.8 percent. In all, 56 percent of the respondents got a raise. The bad news? They fear they may never regain the salary ground lost during the economic downturn, and are grappling with heavy workloads, added responsibilities, and demands to learn new skills. Dice

Sony Will Cut 10,000 Jobs: Sony plans to cut 10,000 jobs, about 6 percent of its global workforce, as new CEO Kazuo Hirai tries to remake the beleaguered behemoth. TV makers have been hit hard by the tough business climate as well as sharp price falls, with Sony, Panasonic and Sharp expecting to lose a combined $17 billion in the fiscal year just ended. Last month, Sony said it will sell a chemical products division, accounting for some 3,000 people, and on April 1 it merged its Sony Mobile display unit — which had about 2,000 workers — with the small LCD panel businesses of Toshiba and Hitachi into a new firm called Japan Display. It’s unclear how many of the cuts will take place in Japan or overseas. Sony currently has 168,200 employees worldwide. Reuters